Process of electric welding



J. W.-FAY.

PROCESS OF ELECTRIC WELDING.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 3, 1919.

1,332,186. Patented Feb. 24,1920.

WITNESS g BY ATTORNEY5 )5 UNITED sirnirns PATENT curios.

JOSEPH 'W. FAY, 0F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO A. 0. SMITH CORPORATION, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATIONOF NEW YORK.

PROCESS OF ELECTRIC WELDING.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH IV. FAY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee. and State of \Visconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes of process of electric arc welding in which a.

fusible metallic electrode and a welding ribbon oflike or similar characteristics are employed. I

In practising the process of arc welding in which the work to be welded consists of a tube rolled from a plate the parallel edges of which are brought into substantially abutting contact, or of a hollow structure formed of shells with the edges in like contact, or even of two flat vplates similarly arranged, it sometimes happens that by reason of irregularities'in forming the parts, the sides of the open space between the abutting edges of the work to be welded are not in exact parallelism. As a consequence of this condition, the width of the open space referred to will be found to vary throughout its length, and there exists in such cases a tendency upon the part of the electric arc to burn out and enlarge the wider part of such open space, when an electric current of sufficient strength to properly fuse the work is fed through a fusible metallic. electrode. But 7 when the strength of the current is reduced so as to avoid the liability to burn out the open space as described, it has been found that such current will not properly fuse the parts at the points where the open space is closed, or nearly closed, by the near approach of the parts. This latter expedient, while preventing the destruction of the material, does not produce 'a weld which extends ent rely through the joint, by reason of the failure of the current to bring the Whole of the Specification of Letters Patent,

Application filed November 3, 1919. Serial No. 335,259.

areas involved up to a proper Welding temperature.

I attribute the burning out of the metal adjoining the open space, as above referred to, to the fact that the entire volume of in tense heat generated by the are passing from the fusible electrode, augmented by the super-heated metal flowing from such electrode, plays directly upon the exposed and separated edges of the work, which are thereby fused away instead of being merely fused to the welding point. Unless the flow of molten metal be checked, the work will show openings in which no welding action has been effected.

I have discovered'that by using a Welding ribbon so constructed that the edges of the work will be protected during the welding operation, an entirely satisfactory and completely welded joint may be produced, and the damage described be prevented, notwithstanding the irregularities which may exist when the meeting edges of the work to be welded are brought together. This welding ribbon is produced by swaging a drawn wire, so that the latter will have a tongue to lie in the open space formed by the slightly separated edges "of the work, and extensions which will rest upon the surfaces of the work and overlap the latter in such a manner as to protect the edges thereof against the immediate action of the heat generated by the current passing through the electrode. A cooling mandrel is arranged at the under side of the joint. such, mandrel {collecting and cooling the fused metal and forming therefrom a rib or head at the welding line.

In operation, the arc formed between the electrode and the work will fuse the Welding ribbon before the adjacent parts have been or variations such .ribed which msy exist.

lrleretofore, the fusible electrode nes been.

depended upon to supply molten motel in sufiicient quantity to iill the jo1nt, b-ut has not always been eli'ectirc to do so. by res. son of the variations existing in the open space, such variations requirins restler quantities of metal at some points 1 others. But the particular difiicnlties viouslv encountered have been successisjy overcome by the use of my invention. and in actual gorecticc, the census more expensive fusible elect o riall r reduced.

In the accompanyingdrawings,

Figure is s. View in elevation mobile rear axle housing and gem case formed of I A I united into an integ structure. once with my invention.

e plen view of s. t V metal i to, the meet' are united in accordance i is sectn unto :rcntuti ich oi duced seen 7 J." v M, Y. is otis ective View o one end 01 e crossbar of en automobile sine, illustreting the epplicetion of my invention to the construction of srts having; irregular meeting or joining surfaces.

v 5 is a TlQW in ners oective. show: 1g 1. fragment of the welding ribbon ennoioyed by my but showing such ribbon in an verte-i position; and

' Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional View showing the manner oi epolying the welding ribbon to the seam or ioint of e tube, together with a. portion of s mandrel which may be employed for collecting and cooling the fused metal and forming e. rib or bead at the under side of the welded joint, this view also showing in dotted lines the application of the welding ribbon to the edges of two flat plates which ere to be united.-

In the drawings, A indicates a rear axle housing and diderential gear case, for an automobile, composed of two belt shell members a and 0; which in practice are welded on opposite sides on lines parallel to the axis thereof. These halt shell members are usually stamped from sheet metal plates, in a manner now well known, but may be otherwise formed if desired. In the welding operation the half shell members wi l be assembled and clamped in the relative positions shown, with their edges in juxtw position, for treatment in the welding mm chine. In assembling the parts, meeting edges of the two half sltell members will U8 slightly separated so as to form at. longitudinal space into which at suitable length of welding ribbon B is inserted.

In the specilic embodiment shown in 5, the welcing ribbon. producec with sides which and in extended or overlapping portions The welding ribbon is produced by 0". passing s suitable drawn wire through 21 pair of swaging rollers, one of whichwill be grooved cironinierentially to i mrt the deto be *he tongue or edge e in between the ad line 037 *TSOn he torn'uition oi stances e er;-

' will co. r .tbes und wirl rest upon and supper the work. Fig. 2 i on irregularity is shown at c as exist in th tube C. welding machine which 1 use is prowith inc-ens for feedins e fusible electrode D to the work in sucu manner that the electrode is fused or volatilized a direct l'ilttlfi') to revel of the electrode along the welding line, or conversely, as work moves pest the point of the electrode, the electrode through which the current is transmitted forms one terminal of the circuit. and the work i'ither.

The several parts referred to being uri'snged as described, an arc is struck with the tip of the electrode D. The are thus formed fuses the electrode, as is well known. It also fuses welding ribbon, and in it suitable degree fuses the edges of the work to be welded. The molten metal created from the electrode and the weldingribbon will be snficient to completely fill the open space at the edges of the work, and unite the parts along the welding line to form :1 perfect joint. As indicated in Fig 6, the molten metal may be collected by the cooling mandrel M, and a head or rib 0, will be formed at the under side of the joint.

By the use oi my invention, the fusible welding ribbon provides :1 reserve of metal which is suficient, with that supplied by the fusible electrode, to entirely close the openmg between the narts be welded, and thereby reduces by at considerable uinount the consumption of the fusible electrodes, which letter are expensive to produce by reason of their covering and the chemical etment of the latter.

In the foregoing, l have described my ided T=..-"BlliJlOI1 es applicable to welding along to be welded forms the mam as indicated in Fig. 4', in which a gusset member is shown as Welded to the end of a crossbar, the latter being one of the parts 1 of an automobile frame, it being desirable Having thus described my invention, What I I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. The process of arc Welding, which con' sists in arranging in juxtaposition the abutting edges of the parts to be Welded, placing a welding ribbon in the line of the joint, and applying an electric current by means of a fusible metallic electrode, to fuse the parts and produce a Welded joint.

2. The process of arc welding, Which consists in the use of a fusible metallic electrode to join the parts to bewelded, supplying a welding current through such electrode,

and inter-posing an additional supply of welding material between'the'fusible electrode and the parts to be Welded.

3. The process of arc Welding, which con sists in arranging in proximity the edges of the Work to be Welded, placing a Welding ribbon in'the line of the joint, applying a welding current by means of a fusible metallic electrode to fuse the parts, and collecting the molten metal flowing from the ribbon and the electrode to form a rib or bead at the opposite side of the welded joint.

4. The method of producing electrically welded joints, which consists in placing a fusible metallic Welding ribbon in the line of the joint, fusing the parts together by means-of an electric current, and augmenting the fused Welding ribbonvby metal supplied by a fusible electrode. I

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name at Milwaukee, this 24th day of October, 1919.

J. W. FAY.

'Witnesses:

W. F. WooLARD, C. THEO. OSTERBERG. 

